In the Shadow of the Palace: The non-elite community of Deir el-Ballas as revealed by the settlement remains and tombs
2025-06-22 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/in-the-shadow-of-the-palace-the-non-elite-community-of-deir-el-ballas-as-revealed-by-the-settlement-remains-and-tombs/
The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California chapter, and the UC Berkeley Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invite you to attend a Zoom lecture by Dr. Victoria Jensen, UC Berkeley:
In the Shadow of the Palace: The non-elite community of Deir el-Ballas as revealed by the settlement remains and tombs
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 3 PM PDT
This virtual lecture will be recorded for later posting on the chapter’s YouTube channel.
Register in advance for this lecture:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/register/Mr2bNJKXQu2YtfoJt4pTLw
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
There are a few things you should know before you join the lecture:
* Advance registration is required. When you click on the link to “Register in advance for this lecture” you will receive instructions by email on how and when to join, along with a link on which you will click to join the meeting. Save the email, as you will need the link it contains to join the meeting. Please register now. Please do not share the join link with anyone, it is unique to your email address. Try to join at least 10 minutes before the meeting. When you do join the meeting, be prepared to be put in the waiting room until the lecture starts at 3 pm. This is a security measure.
* If you haven’t already installed Zoom, I recommend that you download and install the Zoom program (app) well before you try to join the meeting. There IS an option to use your web browser to join the meeting instead of the Zoom program, but the browser interface is limited and depends greatly on what browser and what operating system you’re using.
* For tutorials on how to use Zoom, go to https://learn-zoom.us/show-me. In particular, “Joining a Zoom Meeting” should show you what you need to do to join our lecture.
* All meeting attendees can communicate with everyone, or with individual participants, using the chat window, which can be opened by clicking on the chat button and which you can probably find at the bottom middle of your Zoom viewing screen. Participants will be encouraged to hold their questions for the speaker until after the lecture, and will also be encouraged to address their questions for the speaker to everyone, not just to the speaker, so that all can see them. “Everyone” is the default chat option.
If you have any questions, please email arcencZoom@gmail.com.
About the Lecture:
The site of Deir el-Ballas played a major role in the birth of the New Kingdom as a royal campaign headquarters of the Theban kings during their ultimately successful wars to expel the Hyksos. For several generations afterwards (c. 1550-1450 BC), a non-elite population lived in the shadow of the abandoned palace in this provincial town. Deir el-Ballas was excavated on behalf of the University of California in 1900-1901 by George Reisner under the sponsorship of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, but was never published. Drawing on archival research and examination of hundreds of artifacts from the site that are held in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, Jensen has reconstructed the excavations of the Hearst Expedition at the site, particularly the cemeteries. Her research examines the community’s funerary practices and considers the cultural memory the residents held of their town’s illustrious past.
About the Speaker:
Victoria Jensen is a Senior Research Scholar in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a past President of the Northern California Chapter of ARCE. Victoria earned her B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in International Relations at the University of Chicago and had a career in grant administration before returning to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Egyptology at the University of California Berkeley, which she received in 2019. Her dissertation research has just been published as a two-volume monograph in the Harvard Egyptological Studies series, entitled “The Phoebe A. Hearst Expedition to Deir el-Ballas: The non-elite cemeteries of the 17th–19th Dynasties.”
About ARCE-NC:
For more information, please visit https://facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaArce, https://arce-nc.org/, or http://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, go to https://arce.org/membership/ and select “Berkeley, CA” as your chapter when you sign up.

Artist Talk: Alan LeQuire
2025-06-24 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | The Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Join the Parthenon and AIA-Nashville Society for a free in-person talk on Tuesday, June 24, at 6 PM at the Parthenon. Free registration required.
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nashville-parthenon-artist-talk-alan-lequire-tickets-1335515766609?aff=oddtdtcreator
Alan LeQuire will discuss the new sculptures created for the exhibition Monumental Figures. These 24 sculptures—displayed throughout the Parthenon, inside and out—celebrate the inspirational people among us in everyday life. The figures include activists, musicians, athletes, doctors and friends—elevated to the status of heroes by the large scale of the works.
LeQuire completed the Athena Parthenos statue inside the Parthenon 35 years ago, in 1990, as a project in experimental archaeology. In the 1980s, at the start of his career, he undertook a process of research, modeling, planning and construction that lasted 8 years, with further gilding and painting in 2002. Since then, Alan has created many commemorative works and portraits. He has continued to develop his artistry, using traditional sculptural techniques of modeling, enlargement, and casting, viewing sculpting as a physical discipline. He has now mentored and trained many other younger artists.
Hear directly from Alan some reflections on his inspirations and process, and look with him across 35 years at his career as an artist.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Alan LeQuire is a Nashville sculptor best known for his monumental figures. LeQuire began sculpting at age 11 and studied with Nashville sculptor Puryear Mims, even before receiving his BFA from Vanderbilt University. He spent one year in Italy apprenticing with the American sculptor Milton Hebald, and completed an MFA at University of North Carolina, Greensboro, continuing to study figurative sculpture with Peter Agostini. LeQuire cites the self-taught Nashville sculptor William Edmondson as among his early inspirations.
Soon after completing his MFA in 1981, Alan won the commission to reconstruct the Athena Parthenos statue inside Nashville’s full-scale replica of the Parthenon. He was charged with re-creating a celebrated ancient sculpture known only from partial descriptions and later, small-scale versions. This project was completed in 1990, after 8 years of intensive research, consultation with leading archeologists, modeling, and casting–a lasting achievement in experimental archaeology. LeQuire has undertaken many additional commissions, including individual portraits and larger work in public spaces. Among many other works, he is known for the colossal Musica composition on Nashville’s music row, the bronze doors of Nashville’s Main Library downtown, and the monument to the suffragettes in Centennial Park.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? CHECK OUT THESE RESOURCES:
Become a member of Centennial Park Conservancy to support Parthenon educational programming.
Join the Archaeological Institute of America, the world’s largest and oldest archaeological organization today, and be connected with thousands of other members who share your passion for archaeology!
SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS:
Archaeological Institute of America- Nashville Society
Centennial Park Conservancy
Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation
NEXT SYMPOSIUM:
Stay tuned for updates about Fall Symposia in 2025!

Hiking Scotland's Orkney & Shetland Islands
2025-06-30 - 2025-07-10 | MA
This is the perfect opportunity to explore all that Scotland’s Northern Isles have to offer: prehistoric stone circles, burial chambers, and settlements; quaint villages; huge seabird colonies; and remarkable plant life—all amidst dramatic landscapes. This will be Scotland seen slowly, with time for in-depth exploration at each site. The Orkney and Shetland islands have an amazing wealth of archaeological sites dating back 5,000 years. Together the islands have more than 18,000 known sites, with new discoveries being made every year. This archaeological saga is worth the telling, and nowhere else can the evidence be seen in more glorious a setting.
Highlights:
1. A private virtual tour of the Ness of Brodgar excavations and access to some of the finds. This ceremonial site in the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney” was in use for around 1,000 years and a 20-year excavation project was completed in 2024. The site is within the
UNESCO World Heritage Site on Orkney, which also includes the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, estimated to have been constructed around 2700 B.C.; the Stones of Stenness; the 4,000-year-old Ring of Brodgar, one of Europe’s finest Neolithic monuments;
Skara Brae settlement; and associated funerary monuments and stone settings. These are unquestionably among the most important Neolithic sites in western Europe.
2. “The Crucible of Iron Age Shetland”—including Mousa Broch, the best-preserved known broch in the world, Old Scatness, and Jarlshof—where the lack of intensive modern farming means that the preservation of these sites and their landscapes is exceptional.
3. The Isles are a birdwatcher’s paradise, and one of the major seabird breeding and feeding areas in the North Atlantic. More than a million birds breed in very large colonies.
4. All meals are included, and you will enjoy comfortable accommodations: four nights at the elegant Lynnfield Hotel, a comfortable overnight ferry from Orkney to Shetland and from Shetland to Aberdeen, and three nights at the remote and charming Busta
House Hotel.

Archaeology Field School for Adults with the Office of State Archaeology
2025-07-21 - 2025-07-25 | Hollister Archaeology Site, South Glastonbury, 06073, United States
Monday – Friday, July 21 – 25, 2025
9AM – 3PM daily
South Glastonbury, CT
The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, the Office of State Archaeology, and the Friends of the Office of State Archaeology, Inc. are pleased to once again offer their weeklong Archaeology Field School for Adults. Participants will gain hands on experience contributing to an authentic and significant archaeological investigation, working with primary sources at an 17th-century colonial site in South Glastonbury, Connecticut. The field school will cover the basics of field methods, paperwork, mapping, data management, and artifact identification.
If you require an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the CSMNH at 860-486-4460 or CSMNHinfo@uconn.edu by Friday July 11, 2025.
This field school is open to adults 18 and older.
Contact the office for information about discounts for educators and veterans.
Visit https://csmnh.uconn.edu/programs/ for more information and to register.

Just How Extra is that Virgin (Olive Oil).” A lecture plus tasting of 8 different olive oils
2025-07-26 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Carnegie Room at the St. Louis Public Library, Olive Street, St. Louis, MO, 63101, United States
26 July 2025, Saturday at 2 PM (Central Standard Time Zone). Lecture by Dr. Peter Warnock, Adjunct faculty member in Anthropology at Muskegon Community College.

AIA-Nashville Society Book Club: Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters by Emily Roberson
2025-08-04 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | The Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Welcome to the Parthenon/AIA-Nashville Society Book Club! In partnership with the Archaeological Institute of America-Nashville Society, the Parthenon hosts free book club gatherings quarterly. Join us for a friendly discussion on Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters, by Emily Roberson. The informal discussion will be held inside the Parthenon, in the Treasury on Level 2.
This free book club is open to all— all are welcome!
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parthenon-book-club-lifestyles-of-gods-and-monsters-tickets-1261456503359?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Pakhet of Speos Artemidos: An exercise in divine and demonic ontologies
2025-08-24 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | ARCE Egyptology Lectures Room 254 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, United States
The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California chapter, and the UC Berkeley Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invite you to attend a lecture by Beatrice De Faveri, UC Berkeley
“Pakhet of Speos Artemidos:
An exercise in divine and demonic ontologies”
Sunday August 24, 2025, 3 PM Pacific Daylight Time
MELC Lounge, Room 254 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
This is an in-person lecture and is not virtual. No registration is required. The lecture will be recorded for publication on the chapter’s YouTube channel.
About the Lecture:
The lioness goddess Pakhet, worshiped inside the Middle Egyptian rock-cut sanctuary known as the Speos Artemidos, is renowned within the ancient Egyptian pantheon for her fearsome qualities. Usually depicted as a lion-headed woman, her theonym can be translated as “The Slasher”, a vivid image alluding to her aggressive nature. Despite her various theological associations with more benevolent deities the likes of Hathor and Isis, most of Pakhet’s titles and epithets consistently emphasize the inherent violence of her figure, along with her animal features. While this is rather common for the divine lionesses taking on the role of guardians of the sun god, Pakhet’s attributes allow for an argument about her standing at the intersection between the category of the divine (nTry) and the elusive notion of the demonic. The identification of demonic ontologies within the ancient Egyptian religious thought remains a famously daunting task, mostly due to systemic discrepancies between emic and etic definitions of what can be described as a “demon”. Nevertheless, the analysis of textual sources of the Middle and New Kingdom related to the goddess offer some valuable insights for reconstructing Pakhet’s individual position with respect to the taxonomy of the divine and the demonic. This paper attempts to discuss some previously overlooked aspects of her conceptualization, examined through the lens of the relation between Pakhet and the sphere of ancient Egyptian magic.
About the Speaker:
Beatrice De Faveri, CPhil, a fourth-year PhD student in Egyptology, received her BA in Classical Archaeology from the University of Padua, Italy. She then graduated from the University of Bologna, Italy with an MA in Civilizations and Cultures of the Ancient World focusing on Egyptology. Since 2019, she has been the second leading archaeologist of the IFAO (Cairo) – Museo Egizio (Turin) excavation in the Upper Egyptian site of Coptos (Quft).
As for her current research interests, she specializes in ancient Egyptian magical texts, and harbors a special interest in collections of spells for which a ritual purpose can be identified. Her research extends to the relation between magical and ritual texts and the material culture they generate. As an adjacent interest, she has engaged in the investigation of the category of the ‘demonic’ in ancient Egyptian religious texts and practices.
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Parking is available in UC lots all day on weekends, for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept debit or credit cards. Parking is available in lots around the Social Sciences Building, and in lots along Bancroft. A map of the campus is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/ .
About Northern California ARCE:
For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://www.facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://arce-nc.org, https://bsky.app/profile/khentiamentiu.bsky.social, and https://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://arce.org/membership/ and select “Berkeley, CA” as your chapter when you sign up.

The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa - Exhibition Opening
2025-08-30 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | The Fralin Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22903
Political boundaries are sharp, but cultures tend to blend into each other. That ‘in-betweenness’ is rarely contained by political frontiers. What kind of social and cultural worlds connected Egypt with its southern neighbors? And what was Egypt’s relationship with other African cultures of its time, like Nubia (in present day Sudan)? While contemporary scholarship acknowledges the indigenous origin of Egyptian culture, its story is still rarely told from an African perspective. How did the earliest Egyptian and Nubian cultures relate to each other? In ancient Egypt, Nubians were portrayed as wretched enemies, bound captives, or soldiers. To what extent were their lives defined by Egyptian ideas and colonization? What societal roles did they have and how did their cultural practices impact Egyptian ones? In later times, the Kushite and Meroitic rulers of Nubia revitalized pharaonic culture. Their adoption of Egyptian symbols and beliefs is frequently examined through the lens of ‘Egyptianization.’ What was the nature of this borrowing, and how were Egyptian customs blended with indigenous and other traditions? This exhibition aims to showcase the deep cultural embeddedness of ancient Egypt in Africa, beyond merely acknowledging its geographical position on the African continent. What did Egypt owe to other African cultures in Nubia and, inversely, what did it bequeath to them? The exhibition demonstrates the complex interaction of different cultures in Egypt and Nubia, from prehistory (ca. 3800 BCE) through the Post-Meroitic era (641 CE).

Dr. Zoë Kontes (Kenyon College), Looting Antiquity: Greece’s Lost Marbles
2025-09-06 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | MA
The Parthenon Marbles may be the most famous sculptures removed from an ancient Greek building, but they are far from the only ones. Marble sculptures from the Temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina and the mountaintop Temple of Apollo at Bassae were spirited away and sold at auction in the 19th century; they have remained abroad ever since. This talk will discuss the adventures the sculptures have had in their modern history, consider the important question of where they belong, and review the current state of looting in Greece.
Please note: this is an in-person event only and it will not be streamed or recorded.

IEREK
2025-09-09 08:00 - 2025-09-15 17:00 (America/New_York) | The American University in Emirates, Dubai, UAE, Academic City - Dubai - United Arab Emirates, Dubai, --Choose One--, 503000, United Arab Emirates
Cultural theory, humanities, and social studies illuminate identity, representation, and human interaction. By dissecting power dynamics, globalization, and ethical dilemmas, these fields drive critical thinking and foster empathy. This conference focuses on media’s role in societal trends, evolving cultural practices, and preserving heritage while embracing technological advancements. It bridges humanities, technology, and environmental studies, addressing global challenges and inequalities to inspire interdisciplinary innovation and dialogue.
This conference will take place from September 9 to September 15, 2025, at the American University in the Emirates, Dubai. For inquiries, please contact us via email at cicrw@ierek-scholar.org.

Parthenon Symposium: Archaeological Discoveries in Nashville
2025-09-09 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Nashville Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Join us for an in-person symposium on September 9 at 6 PM. This symposium is free and open to the public, and will take place in the Naos on Level 2. RSVP required for FREE museum admission for the event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parthenon-symposium-archaeological-discoveries-in-nashville-tickets-1447545891729?aff=oddtdtcreator
Join Metro Nashville Historical Commission archaeologist Dr. Adam Fracchia for a free overview of recent archaeological discoveries in Nashville, from indigenous sites to 19th century finds. We celebrate Tennessee’s rich archaeological record and “Tennessee Archaeology Awareness Month” with an introduction to Nashville’s archaeology. Dr. Fracchia will provide an overview of recent archaeological research in the city of Nashville, highlighting some finds from indigenous sites through the late 19th century. He will help us understand recent archaeological research, new approaches and technologies, and what the study of objects and artifacts reveals about Nashville’s history.
About the speaker: Adam Fracchia is an archaeologist and historic preservationist with the Metro Historical Commission. In this role since 2022, he has collaborated with public and private organizations across Nashville to support archaeological research, preservation of material culture, and develop related public and educational programming. He previously led a community archaeology program in Baltimore and he has taught at MTSU and the University of Delaware. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Maryland, and an M.A. in historical archaeology from Illinois State University.
Additional Symposium sponsors: Centennial Park Conservancy
Next symposium:
October 19 – 10 AM Central – Virtual Symposium: Disability in the Ancient Greek World with Dr. Debby Sneed

Echoes of the Ancestors: Uncovering Medieval Burials in Kenya’s Central Highlands
2025-09-10 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland, 44106, United States
What can ancient graves tell us about the lives, beliefs, and bodies of people who lived centuries ago? In the Central Highlands of Kenya, archaeologists have uncovered a rare and intriguing find: three double burials dating back to the Medieval period. This talk explores the unfolding story behind these burials and what they reveal about a little-known chapter of East African history. Through the lens of bioarchaeology, this talk examines how the physical remains—bones, teeth, and burial arrangements—offer clues about the biology and cultural practices of these early communities. For example, the proportions of the skeletons suggest how these individuals adapted to their environment, while the deliberate removal of front teeth points to a striking form of cultural expression. The presence of paired burials raises compelling questions about social relationships, ritual, and identity before the arrival of modern Bantu-speaking groups. Join us as we piece together the lives of these long-gone individuals and reflect on how burial practices can illuminate the values and worldviews of past societies.

Alice Mandell - Canaanite Cuneiform Culture in the Amarna Age
2025-09-16 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus, Baltimore, Maryland, 21210, United States
Alice Mandell lecture
William Foxwell Albright Chair in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Department of Near Eastern Studies – Johns Hopkins University
Canaanite Cuneiform Culture in the Amarna Age
During the Amarna Age (the mid-14th century BCE), kings in the ancient Middle East corresponded with the Egyptian pharaoh. The largest group of cuneiform letters recovered from Tell el-‘Amarna, Egypt are communications from Canaanite elites. While much of past scholarship has focused on the elites sending these letters, the letters also offer insight into the scribal communities that wrote them. Key developments in the study of the Canaanite Amarna letters enable scholars to track the movement of scribes, and their connections with local elites and Egyptian officials. The letters also offer insight into Canaanite scribal education and their innovative uses of cuneiform to communicate to the scribes working for Egypt.
Johns Hopkins Homewood campus, , Clark Hall Room 110

Alice Mandell - Canaanite Cuneiform Culture in the Amarna Age
2025-09-16 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus, Baltimore, Maryland, 21210, United States
Tuesday Sep. 16th, 5:30 – 6:30, JHU Homewood campus, Clark Hall Room 110
Alice Mandell lecture
William Foxwell Albright Chair in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Department of Near Eastern Studies – Johns Hopkins University
Canaanite Cuneiform Culture in the Amarna Age
During the Amarna Age (the mid-14th century BCE), kings in the ancient Middle East corresponded with the Egyptian pharaoh. The largest group of cuneiform letters recovered from Tell el-‘Amarna, Egypt are communications from Canaanite elites. While much of past scholarship has focused on the elites sending these letters, the letters also offer insight into the scribal communities that wrote them. Key developments in the study of the Canaanite Amarna letters enable scholars to track the movement of scribes, and their connections with local elites and Egyptian officials. The letters also offer insight into Canaanite scribal education and their innovative uses of cuneiform to communicate to the scribes working for Egypt.

Lecture - Virtual Egypt: 3D Teaching with Museum Collections
2025-09-17 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Speaker: Rita Lucarelli, Associate Professor of Egyptology, Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures; Faculty Curator of Egyptology, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
University museums hold rich yet often underutilized resources for teaching about ancient Egypt. With the growing availability of 3D and virtual reality technologies—such as photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and immersive modeling—educators now have powerful tools to enhance object-based learning beyond the traditional classroom.
In this lecture, Rita Lucarelli will explore innovative strategies for incorporating 3D and VR technologies into teaching with university collections, using case studies from the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. She will demonstrate how digital replicas, immersive applications, and collaborative projects can deepen student engagement with Egyptian material culture, from archaeological context to artifact function and curatorial interpretation. The presentation also considers the benefits and challenges of integrating these technologies into Egyptology and Art History curricula.

AIA Archaeology Hour September 2025: Beer in Mesopotamia
2025-09-17 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/aia-archaeology-hour-2025-26-beer-in-mesopotamia/
Join the AIA for a fascinating evening with Tate Paulette as he kicks off this season of AIA Archaeology Hour with “Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia.”
This presentation will be given at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.

Register here!

Community Data Collection Day at Providence’s North Burial Ground
2025-09-18 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, Rhode Island Hall, Brown University, 60 George Street, Providence, RI, 02912, United States
Help preserve Providence history! Join the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World and the staff of Providence’s North Burial Ground for a community data collection day within the cemetery’s old Colonial sections. Founded in 1700, North Burial Ground predates the founding of the United States and the charter of the City of Providence. Help document the oldest tombstones at NBG to aid in research about Providence’s history and future preservation decisions. You will also learn about the cemetery’s history and many of the stories within it. Free and open to the public, and all ages are welcome. Please bring a pencil and a writing, though a limited number of clipboards and pencils will be available at the event.
Location: North Burial Ground, Rochambeau Entrance. Free parking on Main Street, or take the R bus line.
Contact: jiaaw@brown.edu or (401) 863-3188.

Archaeology Month Celebration at Battlefield Park
2025-09-20 10:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Tippecanoe Battlefield Park, 200 Battleground Ave, Battleground, IN, 47920, United States
Join the Tippecanoe County Historical Association and Purdue University’s Department of Anthropology to celebrate Indiana Archaeology Month!
This free, all-ages event will feature many hands-on activities, including an Atl Atl dart throw, Artifact Show and Tell and Identification, a mini excavation, and archaeology activity books. The Tippecanoe Battlefield Museum will also have free entry.

The Iconographic and Spatial Role of Gate Guardian Demons in Deir el-Medina Tombs
2025-09-21 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | ARCE Egyptology Lectures Room 254 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, United States
The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California chapter, and the UC Berkeley Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC) invite you to attend a lecture by Jess Johnson, UC Berkeley
“The Iconographic and Spatial Role of Gate Guardian Demons in Deir el-Medina Tombs”
Sunday September 21, 2025, 3 PM Pacific Daylight Time
MELC Lounge/Rm 254 Social Sciences Building (formerly Barrows Hall), UC Berkeley
Because of nearby construction, please allow extra time to find a place to park.
This is an in-person lecture and is not virtual. No registration is required. The lecture will be recorded for later publication on the chapter’s YouTube channel.
About the Lecture:
Material culture from Deir el-Medina [DeM] contains multiple representations of demons. Yet there exists little study on how demons fit into religion in the settlement. While the broader scholarly definition of demon remains fluid, conceptual ideas include aspects of protection, liminality, and the relationship between location and capability. Gate guardian demons (Book of the Dead [BD] 144-147), in particular, are often cited because of their frequent textual and visual representation in papyri and, notably, Deir el-Medina tombs. These artisans equipped themselves with BD 144-147 in their tombs, including text and wall paintings of the gate guardians, thus prompting questions about the function of the visual representations (wall paintings), the function of gate guardians in the BD, and the location of the scenes within the architectural space of the tomb. This talk uses materiality theory to study the relationship between text, visual representation, and architecture within the burial chambers in seven DeM tombs, and considers how these factors influence DeM artisans’ visual representation and conceptualization of demons. Through this study, we can better understand patterns of artistic production and preference, and how and why texts and scenes were mapped onto tomb walls.
About the Speaker:
Jess Johnson is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures department at UC Berkeley. She received her B.A. in Art History from New York University in 2013 and her M.A. in Egyptian Art History and Archaeology and a Graduate Certification in Museum Studies from the University of Memphis in 2016. Her dissertation takes advantage of the commonly overlooked vignettes and tomb wall paintings of the Book of the Dead and the intriguing demonic entities mentioned within it. Jess is also interested in the museological well-being of Egyptian collections. She has over ten years of experience working in museums within university settings, galleries, and auction houses. She hopes to continue both her Egyptological and Museum Studies passions interchangeably through pursuing a career as a Curator.
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Parking is available in UC lots all day on weekends, for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept debit or credit cards. Parking is available in lots around the Social Sciences Building, and in lots along Bancroft. A map of the campus is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/ .
About Northern California ARCE:
For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://www.facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://arce-nc.org, https://bsky.app/profile/khentiamentiu.bsky.social, and https://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://arce.org/membership/ and select “Berkeley, CA” as your chapter when you sign up.

Reports from the Field 2025
2025-09-23 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Dwinelle Hall, South Drive, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
We are excited to start the year by hearing UC Berkeley graduate students report on their summer research and excavation experiences at various sites across the globe. Shelby Medina (Anthropology) will discuss her magnetometry work at the site of Tugunbulak in Uzbekistan. Bella Blanton (Ancient History & Mediterranean Archaeology) will speak about the field season of the Notion Archaeological Project, a Michigan-Turkish excavation of Ionian Greek city. Layla Fistos (Ancient History & Mediterranean Archaeology) will present on her work studying amulets from the American University of Beirut Museum in Lebanon.

A Deep Dive into Deep Time: Archaeology, Underwater
2025-09-23 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W 1st Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201, United States
The phrase “underwater archaeology” conjures up notions of shipwrecks, ships lost at sea, and the dramatic catastrophes that sank them; however, archaeology underwater can also reveal details about ancient landscapes that contain a record of past human occupations. Many of these sites are on the earth’s continental shelves where vast stretches of shallow, coastal land were exposed at the end of the last Ice Age. These once dry landscapes supported life for plants, animals and humans for thousands of years. Learn about these ancient submerged sites, the role they play in the global archaeological record and what unique data they have about the past. The talk will provide a general overview and then focus on 9,000-year-old submerged sites in the North American Great Lakes.
This lecture is graciously supported by an R.J. Webster Lectureship grant.

Student Reports from the Field
2025-09-23 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Semans Auditorium (Room 117), Belk Visual Arts Center, Davidson College, 315 N. Main St., Davidson, NC, 28036, United States
Students from Davidson, UNC Charlotte, and Winthrop will report on their summer excavation experiences. A great opportunity for students to hear what going on a dig is like!

New Approaches to Roman Urbanism: The Excavations of the Falerii Novi Project (Lazio, Italy)
2025-09-25 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | University at Buffalo, Academic Center 320 (Goetz Library), 155 Lee Rd, Buffalo, NY, 14228, United States
Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lecture

Kentucky Society Lecture with Anne Duray
2025-09-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Transylvania University., Lexington, KY, 40508
Time TBD

Play Again: Combining Archaeological and AI Methods to Study Ancient Games
2025-09-25 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Phoenix) | https://www.archaeological.org/event/play-again-combining-archaeological-and-ai-methods-to-study-ancient-games/
Play Again: Combining Archaeological and AI Methods to Study Ancient Games
with
Walter Crist, PhD
Lecturer
Faculty of Humanities
Centre for the Arts in Society
New Media & Digital Culture
Leiden University
The archaeology of ancient play has recently undergone a renaissance, as researchers have couched previous culture-historical research on ancient games in anthropological and archaeological theory, demonstrating the importance of play in ancient life. Further advances in AI technology allow for new applications of this technology in the study of ancient games, and the possibilities of such methods are only beginning to be explored. This research explores two case studies where AI-simulated play, when combined with traditional archaeological methods, provide new insights about ancient games.
Biography
Walter Crist is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University. His PhD dissertation (Arizona State University, 2016) examined the archaeological context of Bronze Age game boards in Cyprus to explore the intersection between gaming activity and social complexity. He is the lead author on the book Ancient Egyptians at Play, and has researched ancient games in Cyprus, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Greece, Turkey, and the Netherlands. As a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC Digital Ludeme Project, he constructed the Ludii Games Database, which documents the knowledge of the rules for traditional board games globally over the past 5000 years. Recent explorations on the ways that AI can inform archaeological research on games continue through his position as Vice Chair of the COST Action GameTable: Computational Techniques for Tabletop Games Heritage.
Registration is required. Follow this link to register: https://asu.zoom.us/meeting/register/KMQBlfk-TYCqAMr0j6l21w#/registration

Politics of Placement: The Development of the 18th Dynasty Theban Necropolis
2025-09-27 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Penn Museum, 3260 South St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Saturday, Sept. 27
3:30 PM EST
Penn Museum, Anthro Classroom 345
In-person; no registration required
Speaker: Dr. JJ Shirley, Managing Editor, Journal of Egyptian History; Director, TT110 Project; ARCE-PA Vice President
Title: Politics of Placement: The Development of the 18th Dynasty Theban Necropolis
Abstract:
In the 18th Dynasty the Theban Necropolis became a preferred location for elite burials, witnessing an explosion of tomb construction. But how did officials decide where to place their tombs? What were the determining factors? Rock quality, location on the mountain, spatial relationship to royal mortuary temples, status, some combination of these?
This talk focuses on the development of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna during the 18th Dynasty to examine the changes and shifts that took place both in tomb location and in which officials were able to build tombs. Certainly, a major purpose of a tomb was to enhance one’s afterlife, and thus having a good view to the royal mortuary temples and access to royal and sacred festival processions would have played a role in where a tomb was placed. However, there are also clear indications that a tomb served as a reflection of one’s place in the living world. As such, a tomb owner’s family and career could help to determine a tomb’s location in the necropolis. By examining the tombs from the perspective of the officials’ lives, it becomes clear that who one was, both in terms of family and career – which after all is how an ancient Egyptian defined himself – seems to have been a dominating factor in tomb placement within Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, but likely carried through into other parts of the necropolis as well.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. JJ Shirley received her PhD from The Johns Hopkins University, and has taught Egyptian Art, Archaeology and Language at the University of Michigan, University of Wales, Swansea, and as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bryn Mawr College. Since 2007 she has been the Managing Editor for the Journal of Egyptian History, published by Brill. She has been ARCE-PA’s Vice President for many years, and also serves on several ARCE National committees. In 2014 Dr. Shirley founded the TT110 Field School, which focuses on epigraphic, illustration, and research training for Egyptian Ministry officials, and for which she has received three Antiquities Endowment Fund grants from the American Research Center in Egypt.
Dr. Shirley’s research interests include Late Second Intermediate Period and Early New Kingdom socio-political history and administration, power dynamics in the ancient world, manifestations of social status in art and architecture, Theban Tombs, and landscape archaeology. Her published work to date has largely focused on the intersection of prosopography and the socio-political history of Dynasty 18. She is currently working on a full publication of TT110 utilizing the new drawings produced by the field school students.
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Lectures are FREE to ARCE Members, $7 for University of Pennsylvania Museum Members and UPenn Staff and Faculty, $5 for Students with ID, and $10 for the general public.
Light refreshments served starting at 3pm.
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The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1948 by a consortium of educational and cultural institutions to support research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, foster broader knowledge among the general public, and strengthen American-Egyptian cultural ties. The ARCE Pennsylvania Chapter (ARCE-PA) is the local branch of the national institution. We host monthly events including scholarly lectures, Egyptian-themed workshops, social events, and guided tours of the Penn Museum’s Egyptian galleries. For more information or to learn about the perks of membership, please send an e-mail to info@arce-pa.org, or visit our website at www.arce-pa.org.

Texas Archeology Month with the Maxey House
2025-10-01 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site, 812 S Church St, Paris, TX, 75460, United States
Join us all of October for Texas Archeology Month at the Maxey House and Evergreen Cemetery. This event is a perfect opportunity for history enthusiasts and families to learn about the local archeology.
The Maxey House will have two free outdoor exhibits that can be seen by visitors throughout the entire month:
1) The first outdoor exhibit focuses on the historic structures that once stood on the grounds but are no longer there. Visitors can read more information on each of the structures by scanning QR codes placed next to each structure’s outline. The exhibit is located on site, 812 South Church Street in Paris, and can be explored seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
2) The second exhibit is located at Evergreen Cemetery, 560 Evergreen Street in Paris, where visitors will be able to learn about the meanings behind different symbols on certain gravestones by scanning QR codes. Visitors can explore Evergreen Cemetery seven days a week from dawn until dusk.
For more information, feel free to contact Elana at 903-785-5716 or elana.barton@thc.texas.gov.

Archaeology-Hour Screening: Beer in Mesopotamia
2025-10-02 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Whitman College Maxey Hall 207, 173 Stanton St., Walla Walla, WA, 99362, United States
Please join us for an in-person screening and informal discussion of the Archaeology Hour talk by Tate Paulette (North Carolina State University).
The inhabitants of the “land between rivers” (Mesopotamia) — today known as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — experimented with many “firsts”… from urbanism to kingship to formalized systems of cuneiform writing. They also built the world’s first great beer culture. They loved their beer: its colors, textures, tastes, and intoxicating effects. They sipped it through long reed straws and praised it in song and story. They drank beer at home, on the job, and in neighborhood taverns––also at feasts, festivals and religious ceremonies. In this talk, Tate Paulette introduces his new book, In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia. This authoritative but light-hearted account explains exactly what we know about the beers, brewers, and drinkers of ancient Mesopotamia, what can be deciphered about it today, and what puzzles still remain to be solved.

Replacing Empires. The Archaeology of Political Transformation and Spatial Dynamics in 1st Millennium BCE Mesopotamia
2025-10-02 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, the Pennsylvania State University, 201 Old Main, University Park, PA, 16802, United States
Kershaw Lectures in Near East Archaeology

Mountain Archaeology and Climate Change
2025-10-03 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Thurman J. White Forum Building, 1704 Asp Ave, Norman, OK, 73072, United States
Dr. Aldenderfer will examine how past mountain peoples adapted to shifting climates, asking whether their strategies can inform those living in highland environments today. Drawing on archaeological evidence from regions such as the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas, he will discuss human resilience and vulnerability in the face of glacier retreat, variable precipitation, biodiversity loss, and climate-driven hazards.
